Mortal Flame
by hellokelseyyy
Summary: One dark night ten years ago Ryoko's life changed forever when a monster attacked her family. Now with one of her older brother missing and her own desire to avenge her past she searches for answers and hunts down the monster from her past. As fate would have it her future is now intertwined with the spirit detective gang. Rated mature for some language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

"Mommy! Mommy! Theres a monster under my bed." A little girls voice cried out for her mothers comfort on this dark and storming night. The winds cascaded against trees outside the window, practically bending them in half. The rain hammered the sides of the house as shadows danced against the wall. It was almost day break but the sunshine would not be welcoming the happy family that it had said good night to hours before. "Mommy?" The girl cried out again, tears pouring from her eyes the way the rain poured from the sky outside. There was a crackle of lighting and the booming of thunder outside but it did not muffle the screams from inside the house.

~Ten years later~

I woke up to the sounds of my mothers screams from that night ringing in my ear. A cold sweat ran down my neck and fore head as I sat up and clutched the blankets in my fists. "Not again" I muttered to myself while taking deep calming breaths. I sighed and put my hands in my heads. I couldn't believe that it had already been ten years since I lost my mother and my sight in my right eye. In two weeks to be exact, on my sixteenth birthday, it would also be the tenth anniversary of her death.

I pulled the covers back to reveal that I had fallen asleep in my street clothes again instead of changing into my PJs. I slid one socked foot off the bed and onto the floor and then the other leaving a trail of blankets on the floor in my wake. The sound of a tea kettle boiling filled the stale air around me. I rubbed my eyes sleepily. After all these years it was still habit for me to rub both of my baby blue eyes even though it only improved my vision in the left eye.

"Good morning sleepy head." A male voice chuckled as removed the tea kettle from the stove and poured two cups. The man standing before me was one of my older brothers, Issac. Issac was two and a half years older then me; he was a few inches shy of six foot tall and stood a looming heads hight above me. We looked nothing alike and admittedly we weren't even sure which parents we shared, if any, but he was my brother none the less. He wrinkled his brow and frowned when he looked at me. "Ryoko…" He said undoubtably taking inventory of my clothes. "Plase tell me you did not sleep in your clothes again." He said offering me a cup of tea.

I stepped past him and turned my nose up to the tea and took a carton of milk from the fridge. "Okay. I didn't" I said with a smug grin as I put the carton to my lips.

"Hey!" Issac groaned and swiped the carton from my lips before I could take a drink. "Use a glass you pig!"

"Make me!" I hissed back and attempted to fight him for the carton. He pushed me aside with ease because of his muscular physique.

"Get ready for school. If you hurry you can still make your morning classes." He ordered looking at his watch. "I'm walking you there."

"What!? Why?" I said stomping towards our tiny bathroom. "I can walk myself"

"Oh can you? Because the school called again and said you haven't been there in two weeks. I assumed you were getting lost on the way" He said getting ready for his shift. Issac worked at a local supermarket as a manager. I should be a lot more grateful for everything he does for me, letting me live with him, paying for everything, and worrying about me all the time. But. I have a hard time getting a long with Issac, especially ever since our other brother Sasuke disappeared two months ago. I was lost in thought about Sasuke as I brushed my teeth and got ready for school.

I looked in the mirror at the scar across my eye and the cloudiness of my pupil. I parted my midnight black hair to the left in an attempt to cover my eye.I looked in the mirror, assessing my reflection. I could have been pretty or maybe even beautiful if it weren't for the ugly scar that never seemed to fade.

"Come on Ryoko!" Issac called from the kitchen. I left out a huff before pulling on my blue sailor school uniform. I rolled the skirt band up to make it much shorter then it was meant to be and then walked out after my brother. We left our one bedroom apartment behind as we started the day.

We walked in silence for the majority of our trip to my school. I was lost in my thoughts about Issac and Sasuke. I missed Sasuke and I knows Issac does too. Issac was always a little more serious then Sasuke but he was never this hard on me. He always hated that I would skip school but he trusted me to make the best decisions for myself. Lately though he was being much more strict with me. I wondered to myself if he was worried that I was going to disappear the way that Sasuke had. I felt a twinge of pain in my heart when I came to this realization. I looked up at Issac who was walking next to me. He had a determined look on his face and he was starring straight ahead. 'I should go easier on him..' I thought. The next thing I knew we had arrived at my school.

Issac stopped just outside the front gate. "Ryoko" He sighed. "Try to make good choices okay?"

When he said that I immediately got angry and all my previous thoughts evaporated from my mind. "Excuse me?" I hissed. I hated how he acted like he didn't understand why I skipped school; as if he wanted me to just pretend to be normal despite everything that had happened. I pushed past him and walk through the gates without another word to him.

"Young lady, I've never seen you here before. You must be new." A short and overweight man said to me with a polite smile. His hair, or what was still left of it at least, was short and light brown. I knew who he was. "Oh." He said when I looked him in the eye. "Miss Fukuda it is nice to see you joining us today." His voice changed from polite to stern in an instant. This man was our schools wonderful principle, Takenaka and he is a giant pain in my ass. "I realize that you have a lot of health issues. Your older brother informed me that is why you haven't been in school.." He said beginning on another lecture for me.

I turned my head and started to walk away, ignoring him. I didn't have time for his bull shit today and I was already in a sour mood from Issac.

"Hey! Im not done talking to you!" He said starting to follow me.

I started walking faster and due to his poor physical shape and the fact that I am in top physical form I was able to easily out run him. I made my way to my class room and sat down at a desk in the back row, closest to the window.

From the second I sat down I could feel people staring at me. I knew that it was just a matter of time before the whispers started. I hate it but I don't let them know that. Ive heard them all talk about my eye. Iv'e lived in this town all my life and everyone knows what the police say about what happened and it was all over the news when it happened. They say a man broke into our house that night to rob us and my mother foolishly got in his way. He killed my mother and I'm lucky to be alive. I know that none of that is true. My brothers weren't home that night because they were visiting their paternal grandparents. There was no burglar, no man, just a monster. A monster killed my mother and attacked me but thats not the only thing they're wrong about. I'm not lucky to be a live.

The whispers start and the next thing I know a spit ball flies across the room and barely misses my face.

"Hey stop it." A girls voice protests before I can even react to what just happened. The voice was that of Keiko Yukimura. Everyone in school knows about her because she is a straight A student with lots of friends. She is very well liked even though she's supposedly dating a thug. "Leave her alone." She said as she walked further into the room and in the direction of the guy who sent the spit ball wailing at me.

"Uh, Y-yeah. Im sorry." The kid stuttered. He was shaking out of fright but not because of Keiko. Following behind her was the one and only Yusuke Urameshi who was known school wide for skipping class and being an all around bad ass. He was giving a death glare to the guy who had upset Keiko.

The bell rang to signal that class was to begin. Keiko walked over to me and smiled. "You're Ryoko right?" She asked.

I nodded in a signal that she was correct.

"I'm Keiko. Do you mind if we sit by you?" She asked gesturing to herself and Yusuke and then to the desks in front of and next to me.

"I don't care." I said in a quiet but cold voice. I turned my attention to the window and looked outside.'being here is such a waste of my time. I could be out there searching for that monster.' I thought as the teacher began to drone on about something.

Class was, as I thought, a pointless waste of time for me. I continued to gaze out the window in search of something more interesting then the class. It wasn't that I didn't understand school or that I had a hard time learning. School has honestly always been easy for me when I applied myself. The fact that I found it so boring was part of the reason that I never went. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw a black blur pass by on the street below. It moved at such an alarming speed that I couldn't even say for sure that I had actually seen it. That was until I looked a Yusuke, who was sitting in front of me. He was staring out the window but his eyes were fixated on the same spot where the blur had been and he had a serious expression on his face.

The next thing I knew the bell signaling the end of the day had rang. Issac had forgotten that school was ending early today because of a festival in town. I smirked to myself. 'First day I come to school in weeks and its a half day' I gathered my things and stood up. As I turned to leave I saw Keiko blocking my path.

"Ryoko" She said with a smile and clasped her hands together. "Yusuke and I are going into town to meet some friends for the festival. Why don't you come with us?"

My eyes darted from Yusuke to Keiko and then back again. Something about the look she was giving me told me that she wasn't going to take no for an answer. "Well… I…" I started to say, trying to think of an excuse not to go.

"Great! lets go" Keiko said and she grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the door.

'yep, not taking no' I thought and rolled my eyes.

She released my arm from her grip and I walked willingly with them out of the school. I stopped near the entrance gates of the school. Yusuke and Keiko stopped too, surprised. They turned and looked at me.

"What's wrong?" Keiko asked.

"Why?" I said staring at my feet. "Why are you being so nice to me? Haven't you heard what people say about me?" I asked not even trying to hide the confusion in my voice. 'The only reason they could be being so nice to me is if they haven't heard… but how could they not have?' I thought to myself as there was an awkward pause.

I felt a hand grab my shoulder in a reassuring gesture and I looked up to see Yusuke looking seriously at me.

"Hey." He said sternly. "I don't put any faith in those stupid rumors. It's just pathetic people gossiping. I mean, according to the rumors about me… I fight bears for fun and command an army of thugs." Yusuke said with a grin. "Which isn't to far from the truth." He laughed and Keiko came up behind him and smacked him in the back of the head. Yusuke released his grip on me and turned to yell at her. "Hey! what was that for?!" he groaned.

Keiko ignored him. "What he's trying to say is that you need to believe in yourself and let other people get to know you. Oh, and don't believe the rumors about Yusuke.. He's harmless!" She said in such a calm and sincere voice.

I wanted to believe them and I wanted to go to that festival and pretend, for a while, that I was a normal teen age girl. But. I knew I couldn't because of my past and belief in monsters. If they ever found out it would hurt to much. I couldn't let them in.

"Thank you." I said with a bow and Keiko and Yusuke both smiled. "But I can't!" I called out before taking off running in the other direction, away from the school. "It was nice to meet you though!" I called back to them with a wave.

I could hear Yusuke laughing from behind me and saying. "What a weird girl. I kind of like her."

"Yusuke!" Keiko shouted.


	2. Chapter 2

I ran for a few blocks, until I was sure that Yusuke and Keiko weren't following me. I stopped to catch my breath. Yusuke had said some nice things but I did not trust him. How could I? I really didn't know either of them and even if I did it was just a matter of time before they learned more about me and left. I wasn't about to deal with that pain all over again. Aside from all that. They were just a distraction from finding the monster that had murdered my mother.

I stopped near a bus stop to study the travel map that was hung up for patrons to view. A few weeks ago I had heard of this scary old woman who lived in the mountains, away from all signs of civilization. The rumors I had heard were that she was a strong fighter in her youth but now she was retired. Her techniques were said to be very strange, borderline paranormal and some even called her a psychic. I had a feeling that she was my first solid lead at finding anything out about what had happened. I scanned the bus map to see which route would get me the closest. I found that if I got on the bus stop next to the river it would take me part way to the mountain. The rest I would have to walk.

I suddenly had the sensation that I was being watched. I turned my head swiftly to look back over my left shoulder but there was no one there. I was sure I had felt someone though.. I turned and slowly started walking in the direction of the river. 'Could Yusuke and Keiko really have followed me?' I wondered as I walked I clutched my school bag tight. The road was empty of people who were no doubt preparing for the festival that was to start soon. There was no sound in the wind except for my shoes on the sidewalk. I walked a long still an uneasy feeling in my stomach as I did.

Then the clicking of my heels was interrupted by the sound of multiple feet dragging behind me. I turned and saw a group of four local thugs staggering behind me. They were reaching their arms out towards me and saying something but they were to far away for me to hear exactly what they were saying. I snorted and said, mostly to myself. "Isn't it kind of early to be this hammered?" I dropped my bag on the ground and made a fist with one hand cracking the knuckles against the other as they staggered closer.

The closer they got to me the more I could see that they weren't the average thugs I had thought they were and they were not simply intoxicated as I had thought. Then I saw it, the horns coming out of each of their heads and their teeth long and sharp like a wolves fangs. I swallowed hard unsure of what I was seeing but knowing in my heart that whatever it was it wash't a human.

Before I knew it the first one had staggered over to me and was grabbing for me. I dropped down toward the ground and out of his reach before leaning upward and upper cutting him in the gut. It felt like my hand had hit a brick wall and hurting my hand more then it could have possibly hurt the monster, who didn't even flinch. He reached down and grabbed a hold of me by the neck and lifted me off my feet as if I literally weighted nothing. I hung there in front of him as the other monsters caught up to his side.

He squeezed his fingers tight around my throat and I could feel the air disappearing from my lungs. I tried to scream but all that came out was raspy gasping for air and spit. I flailed my arms and legs as best I could but there was no use. I was already weak from oxygen deprivation and this monster was a million times stronger then anyone I had ever met.

My vision began to blur and my throat and lungs burned. I could feel him squeezing the life out of my body. 'I can't believe I'm going to die like this.. Isac… Sausuke!' I cried in my head. Suddenly my body felt warm inside and it was as if I had shot some kind of beam from inside myself. Some sort of indescribable pressure knocked his hands lose from around my throat. I crashed to ground and instinctively grabbed my neck as I gasped for air.'What was that?' I wondered in my head. 'Did I really do that?'

"Watch out you fool!" I heard a mans voice growl.

Still laying on the ground I turned my body to see the rest of the monsters moving toward me and the one that I had knocked over was starting to get back up. I was still weak and stunned from the attack and couldn't move. But the monsters were closing in on me. There was a quick black flash that passed before my eyes and the next thing I knew there a man standing between me and the monsters. He wasn't exceptionally tall but he was dress in a black cloak and black pants and boots. His hair was also black and it was spiked straight up in the air and added a few inches to his size. He was squatting down in front of me with a sward in his hand and his back facing me. I was stunned to see this man. He turned his head over his shoulder and looked at me. 'Are you alright?' He hissed but somehow didn't sound like he really cared if I was or not.

"Look out!" I manage to muster enough energy to shout a warning to him as the monster lunged for him. Using his sword he slicked the air in front of the monster and the sheer force of the swing knocked the monster down. He lunged at another one, grabbing it around the waste and knocking him down as well.

Another one came after me while my protector was distracted fighting the rest. It picked me up and those me like I was nothing and I hit the ground a few feet away. "Ah!" I screamed as I felt a rib snap on impact.

My protector knocked the others out with a final smack of his sword and ran, with speed so fast that I couldn't even seem him move. It was as if he had teleported from far away and was in front of me before I could even blink. The pain from my broken bones were to much for me to handle. I closed my eyes and faded out of consciousness.

"You Idiot. Why would you bring her here?" An old woman's voice said.

"pft. Be glad I did anything with her. I should have left her there to die and it would have been through no fault of my own." The male voice said.

"Again. you're not thinking, she's a human. Koenma would have your butt if she died because of a demon related issue. I thought you had the breach figured out." The raspy female voice complained.

"Hmph. Then thats why I brought her here. Why do you ask questions you know the answer to you old hag? I do have the breach sealed. I don't know how these parasites got in here." He huffed, clearly annoyed.

I tried to open my eyes but they were to heavy and much of my body was still sore but not as sore as I would have thought after the beating I had taken. I relaxed even though I had no idea where I was, for some unexplainable reason I felt safe. I drifted back to sleep.

When I opened my eyes again it was dark outside. I slowly sat up and felt the blood rushing to my head. I grabbed my head with my hands and took a deep breath.

"You're awake." The woman's voice said. I looked over and saw a short old woman with a wrinkled face and graying hair sitting by the window with a lit cigarette hanging from her lips.

"Who are you?" I asked groggily and rubbed my eyes. "Where am I?" I asked looking around. "Wheres that guy? The one who saved me?" I didn't see him anywhere.

The woman took the cigarette from her lips and puffed a smoke ring before answering. "I'm the psychic Genkai and you are in my home." She stated calmly. "The man who saved you is…"

"Im right here." I recognized the deep masculine voice of the man who had saved me. He stepped out from the shadows.

I gasped, startled because I had no idea he was in the room with us.

"Good, she's awake. Now I can leave." He huffed and turned towards the door.

"Wait. What's going on? Who are you and who were those…" I said trailing off. 'What do I call them? Were they really more monsters?' I wondered to myself.

"Pathetic human. I only saved you because I was trailing those demons anyways. Don't think you're special. And don't think I care enough about your species to tell you my name." He growled.

"I…" I stuttered. I wasn't feeling very safe at that moment.

"I'm going. Tell the detective and his bafoon that I'll be in touch." He said before walking out of the room.

The old woman puffed on her cigarette again before taking smirking. "Don't let him bother you. He's not use to human interactions."

"What?" I said confused.

"It will all make sense soon. The others will be here before to long. Theres a bathroom down the hall." She said as she stood up and walked out of the room.

I stood up slowly because I was still stiff but surprisingly enough I wasn't in much pain at all. I walked out of the room and into the bathroom. I stood in front of the sink and turned on the cold water. I cupped my hands together and splashed some water on my face. I used a hand towel to dry my face off and then looked in the mirror. There wasn't even so much as a bruise on my neck which startled me, seeing as I almost had the life chocked out of me. I ran my finger across my neck. 'Nothing makes sense' I thought.

"Genkai!" I heard a voice from the hallway that sounded familiar.

I turned the water off and walked out into the hallway.

"What's up? Why'd you call us?" Yusuke asked, his eyes widened when he saw me. He was standing in the entrance way with another boy around his age who was tall with orange hair. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked, almost shouting at me.

"Uh, Im not really sure." I shrugged and felt just as surprised to see him as he did me.

"So you know each other? That will make this easier. Why don't we all sit down?" Genkai offered us all a seat at her table and some tea. I sat down next to Yusuke and Genkai and the other man sat across from us.

"I'm Kuwabara by the way." The orange haired man said to me.

"Oh, I'm Ryoko." I said realizing I hadn't introduced myself to them.

"So what's going on Genkai?" Yusuke asked with a serious tone and for once a serious look on his face.

Genkai sighed. "Well. I don't know all the details myself. But Hiei told me that around three this afternoon this girl, Ryoko, was attacked by some humans who were infected by the a parasitic demon. She was almost killed before Hiei was able to intervene and flush out the demons. During which he reported that she showed some signs of spiritual awareness."

"What? Hiei? Demons?" I repeated.

Genkai nodded. " Yes, Demons are real. Hiei, that man who rescued you, is actually a demon himself."

"But don't worry, he's not so bad." Yusuke smiled.

I sat there in silence for a few moments.

"You don't seem that shocked." Kuwabara said surprised. "When I first found out I was really freaked out."

"Well.." I said and looked down at my lap.

"What is it?" Yusuke asked.

"Well. I think I've seen one before." I told him. "it was a long time ago but I've been trying to figure out where and what it was since then." I said my voice shaking a little.

Genkai reached out and put her hand on my reassuringly. "It's alright. We can do our best to help you understand it. You see there are different worlds that run parallel to the one we all live in. There is the spirit world which you may know as where King Yama resides. This is where souls are sent to be processed after death and then are given their proper judgment and are sent wherever they will go for the rest of time. And then there is the demon world, a world full of the most horrible monsters of your nightmares. These demons have been held there for thousands of years but recently they've been more active and have been sneaking through between worlds." She explained.

As crazy as it should have sounded I believed them and I knew that they weren't crazy.

"I'm sure it's a lot to take in." Yusuke said. He looked at Genkai. "Do we know where they came from and why they were after her?"

"Hiei closed the last break between the two worlds weeks ago." She said with a shrug. "So we really have no idea where they came from. It's likely she was just a random attack but I think we should keep an eye on her just to be safe." Genkai suggested. She looked over at Yusuke and Kuwabara. "I want the two of you to train her and help her awaken her spiritual powers. Along with Kurama and Hiei of course."

"You want us to train her?" Kuwabara asked. "Do you think thats a good idea? What about Koenma?"

"These orders are directly from Koenma." She explained, shutting any protests down.

"Who's Koenma?" I asked looking between the three of them.

"He's kind of like my boss." Yusuke shrugged. "Hes King Yama's son. Im a spirit detective. Im basically in charge of keeping the demons a bay." He grinned and boasted about himself. "And Kuwabara is like my side kick."

"Side kick?" Kuwabara huffed. "Hey! Im not anyones side kick" He said grabbing Yusuke by the collar of his shirt.

"Hahaha. Sorry sorry." Yusuke said laughing.

I snickered a little to myself. This was all happening so fast. I should have been much more afraid but surprisingly I wasn't frightened to learn that demons were real at all. I was overjoyed with the idea that I could finally obtain my revenge on the monster that had murdered my mother and I would find a way to make Yusuke and his friends help me.

"Knock it off you Dimwitts." Genkai growled and they both stopped and became completely silent. "You both should walk her home tonight. I've no doubt that Hiei will be keeping a close eye on her place tonight. Tomorrow I want you two to bring her back here with Kurama. to begin her training and to plan our next move." She explained.

Yusuke and Kuwabara nodded. "Sounds like a good plan" Yusuke said and we all got up to leave.


End file.
